


Heejin

by GeeLiz_98



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: ChanBaek - Freeform, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Parent AU, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24509476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeeLiz_98/pseuds/GeeLiz_98
Summary: Just a bit of parent Chanbaek for the soul. I plan to add a chapter for various stages of their daughter's life so it can be read in any order, really.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, ChanBaek - Relationship
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

Baekhyun was starting to panic. 

Did he buy the jar of pureed carrot or pureed butternut squash? Did he get both? Maybe he should buy neither and make some food himself. Surely that would be better? Then he would know exactly what he was feeding her. But what if he didn’t cook it right? Could he accidentally make her ill?

He took a step back and dragged his eyes across the rows and rows of snacks and jars of baby food and felt himself get light headed. He wasn’t cut out for this. He should have listened to Chanyeol’s mom and gone shopping with her or Yoora. He should have let his mom cook for her instead. 

Oh, GOD! Is he a bad dad?

“Can I help you, dear?” 

Baekhyun jumped out of his skin when a light hand fell onto his shoulder.

He turned to face an old lady with a kind smile. 

“Oh..I erm…” 

He held up the jars in his hands, not quite sure how to explain his conundrum to the nice lady but also surrendering to the idea that he was completely lost. 

The woman's eyes lit up and she chuckled heartily, rubbing him aggressively on the back with a coo. Old ladies were often overly aggressive with their affection.

“Oh dear,” she laughed, “is it your first time feeding a little one?”

Baekhyun nodded, looking down at his feet in embarrassment. 

“We...we wanted to try her. Just to see. I...I have no idea what I’m doing.”

He turned to look at the lady in shame (would she think he was awful?) only to see her gentle smile was still there. 

She sighed, “we’ve all been there! I was the same with my first! And there are so many rules these days! Don’t do this or that or the other - I don’t know how you young people deal with it!”

Baekhuyn laughed breathily, feeling a little bit of tension leave his shoulders at the acknowledgement. She was right; it was rather overwhelming.

When he and Chanyeol had decided to adopt a small baby when she was but 3 months old, they had bought every book, DVD, and gone to every class available. There was nothing they didn’t know about raising a child!

But when they first held little Heejin in their arms, nothing seemed as simple anymore. She was so tiny, so precious, and so delicate, they worried that the most delicate breath may break her. 

“Don’t worry, dear,” the lady gently removed the jars from Baekhyun’s sweaty hands and turned to face the shelves, “goodness me! This is a lot! I only ever fed mine rice straight from the chopsticks and mashed up veg until they were able to whine enough to make me do otherwise!”

Baekhyun turned to her in surprise, “that’s what my mom did with me…”

The lady patted him on the back, “of course she did! Because that’s how you build a big strong boy!”

Baekhyun laughed bashfully. 

“You know what I think?” She waited for Baekhyun to shake his head, “the fact that you are here, worrying about your little one this much, taking so much care, tells me that you are the best dad a child could wish for.”

The sudden compliment shocked Baekhyun and he was sure that, if he were still holding the jars, he would have dropped them. He could feel the way a hot blush rushed to his ears. 

“I...you really think so?”

She nodded. 

The compliment made Baekhyun’s chest warm with pride. His biggest fear was that he wasn’t a good dad to Heejin and to hear such praise from a complete stranger meant the world to him. 

“As for the food,” pondered for a minute, resting a finger on her chin in thought, “my favourite has always been carrot”

She gave Baekhyun a wink before heading back up the aisle. 

  
  


Baekhyun arrived home with two heavy bags of shopping, so heavy that he could barely get through the door without dropping everything. 

The house was bizarrely quiet when he stepped inside. He gently placed the bags down and removed his tattered converse. 

Briefly, he caught his reflection in the mirror and couldn’t help but be mildly horrified! 

His hair was a ratty mess, so long that it almost reached his cheeks and he had dark roots where he had not found the time to reapply lighter brown dye. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and he was swamped by Chanyeol’s hoody he had grabbed on the way out of the door. 

He was a bit of a mess and he felt a little concerned about what the old woman had made of his ragged state. 

He tiptoed through the house and into the kitchen which was empty save for a used bottle which had been abandoned on the side. He placed it into the steamer with the others waiting to be washed before unpacking the shopping into the cupboard they reserved for Heejin. 

He couldn’t hear a peep out of Chanyeol or Heejin which was slightly concerning: his boyfriend was the loudest man he had ever met. He was always singing or laughing or bashing things about. His daughter was not much quieter! 

He searched the living room only to find it empty and decided they must be upstairs. 

He was right. 

Laying on his bed, he found Chanyeol laying on his side with his daughter lying beside him, peacefully asleep as her dad delicately brushed her soft cheeks. 

Chanyeol looked more handsome than Baekhuyn could ever have imagined like that. The image of the tall and muscular man lying shirtless, his tattoos on display was, perhaps ironically, the softest thing Baekhyun had ever witnessed. 

“Hey,” Baekhyun whispered, unsure if the other man even knew he was there. He was so wrapped up in his daughter. 

Chanyeol stretched his neck to face Baekhyun and offered him the most dazzling smile. He was so beautiful in that moment. 

“Hi, love,” he whispered back, “she just fell asleep here after her bottle and I didn’t want to move her.”

Chanyeol shuffled over on the bed slightly to make room for Baekhyun in between himself and Heejin, carefully so as not to wake the sleeping child. 

Baekhyun climbed into the extra space on the bed and lay on his side, allowing for Chanyeol to spoon him. He relaxed as arms wrapped around his torso and hands came to clasp his own. 

“She’s beautiful isn’t she?” Chanyeol asked, his voice dreamy. Baekhyun was certain that Chanyeol loved Heejin more than he had ever loved Baekhyun and it felt amazing that the man he had chosen to spend his life with had such a big heart. 

Baekhyun hummed in response. 

“Almost as beautiful as you,” Chanyeol quipped and sealed with a peck on the back of Baekhyun’s neck.

“Almost!?” Baekhuyn shot back jokingly. He knew that his daughter was more beautiful than anyone else in the whole world. 

Chanyeol giggled softly. 

“You mean you don’t agree?” 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and sat up on the bed. He wanted to face Chanyeol but didn’t want to accidentally roll onto Heejin. Chanyeol soon followed. 

They both leaned with their backs on the headboard and clasped each other’s hands. 

They turned to face once another, the silence between them comfortable and blessed by the soft breaths of Heejin. 

“I love you, Yeol.”

Chanyeol smiled and kissed Baekhyun softly on his cheek. 

“I love you more than you will ever know.”

The pair slowly inched towards each other until their lips collided. 

The way that Chanyeol’s plump (but dry - Baekhyun would have to force him to moisturise) lips lovingly moved against his own, moving to a rhythm that they both led by, made Baekhyun’s heart squeeze with affection. It spread to his hands, his feet, and he could feel it in his face. The sparks that flew overwhelmed him. 

He brought his hands up to hold Chanyeol’s face. He moved closer to his partner and knelt up slightly to gain more access to his lips, to deepen the kiss. 

Chanyeol, cheeky as he was, bobbed his tongue out and licked across Baekhyun’s lips playfully causing them both to break apart in a splutter of laughs. They were very immature when they were left to their own devices. 

“That wasn’t very sexy,” Baekhyun whined. 

“You want sexy, baby?” Chanyeol wiggled his eyebrows flirtatiously which made Baekhyun giggle again and smack him on the arm.

“Yes please, daddy,” Baekhyun replied, fluttering his eyelashes mockingly. 

“In that case,” Chanyeol crawled over the small distance between them and whispered into Baekhyun’s ear, “do you still have those stockings I bought you? We could always try them out later…”

Baekhyun threw himself backwards dramatically, horrified at his partner’s words. 

“CHANYEOL!” He cried, “not in front of Heejin!” 

Chanyeol slapped his hands over his mouth in horror and went purple with embarrassment. 

“Do you think she heard!?”   
  


With all of the commotion, Heejin woke up and began to gurgle in the way that small babies do, stretching out her tiny fingers and tiny toes. 

“Shush!” Baekhyun ordered before turning to Heejin. 

He stroked the few jet black rays of hair that stuck to her head due to the sweat that gathered in her restful sleep and cooed. 

“Hello my beautiful girl,” he and Chanyeol both moved to stare at her with pure infatuation, “did you sleep well?”

Heejin gurgled in reply, not able to do much else. 

Chanyeol moved to gather her up in his arms so that she could be moved from the bed. As much as he hated to disturb her, he knew it wasn’t safe to leave her. 

“Did daddy wake you with his shouting?” he asked with a sad pout.

“Er!” Baekhyun argued in defence, “I think you’ll find that’s your appa’s fault! Not mine!”

“I was only asking a question! Do you not want to wear them?”

“AH!” Baekhyun cut him off by shoving his finger over his lips, “we’ll discuss this later!

Chanyeol offered back a cheeky grin as he began to walk out of the bedroom. 

“That didn't sound like a ‘no’,” he said quietly, pretending that only Heejin would be able to hear him”

“Well, you’ve pissed me off now so it is!” Baekhyun crossed his arms in faux annoyance but the small smile pulling at his lips said otherwise. 

Chanyeol laughed in the loud and boisterous way that Baekhuyn loved and their little argument was completely forgotten. 

Just as Chanyeol began to calm down, a small noise came from Heejin’s mouth. 

Baekhyun and Chanyeol both froze. 

“Heejin, what was that?”

They towered over her in awe as she lay there smiling widely, wider than they’d ever seen before and, just as they were about to praise her as though she’d won a Nobel peace prize, she began to giggle. 

“She giggled!”   
  


“Has she ever done that before!” 

“I don’t know!”

“Oh my God, Baek! She giggled!”

“I need to write it in her logbook! What’s the day!?!?”

“I don’t know! Heejin! Do that again for appa!”

And she did. Her dads had never been more proud. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An evening with the Park-Byun family.

It was nearly 5 o’clock which meant that Baekhyun only had one hour left to prepare the meal before his friends arrived. 

Not that he was complaining; when he had offered to play host for his friend Kyungsoo’s 30th birthday meal, he genuinely wanted to help out. After all of the help his friend and his partner, Jongin, had offered him in terms of childcare since he had gone back to work after Heejin’s 1st birthday, it was the least he could do. 

But when he had offered his services, he had really counted on his boyfriend being there to help him out…

He was in the midst of rapidly slicing a radish to throw into the boiling broth on the hob when the door slammed open with such ferocity that he almost slipped and cut himself. He didn't have to turn around to know who had just burst through the door.

“Park Chanyeol!” He spun around with the knife in his hand and a face like thunder, “could you be more careful?”

Chanyeol stood frozen in the doorway looking like a child who had just been scolded. In fairness to him, he did look rather haggard; his tie was loose around his neck, his shirt untucked, and one shoe still on. 

“Sorry,” Baekhyun sighed and put the knife down, looking up at Chanyeol with a soft and apologetic smile, “babe. Take your shoe off. We don’t live in a barn.”

Chanyeol looked down at his feet and stared at though they had sprouted heads. He was clearly in a hurry and hadn’t noticed he’d left it on. As Baekhyun turned to continue with his chopping, Chanyeol went back into the hall. 

“I’m sorry I’m late, Baek!” he called from the hall, “one of the exam students wanted some help with her piano scales and I couldn't just leave her.”

Baekhyun couldn’t help but feel proud at hearing that. He often lost his boyfriend to exam season when the high school was in full swing but he didn’t mind too much. Even if he was a little irritated that his boyfriend hadn’t yet started on the food he promised to cook for Heejin; she refused to eat anything with even the slightest spec of spice in it so every day was a mission to find something she would eat. Unfortunately, tiny sausages and tomato sauce with a side of dry rice were all she willingly ate, much to her fathers’ chagrin. 

Strong arms wrapped themselves around Baekhyun’s waist as Chanyeol pressed up against his back. He turned around in his boyfriend’s arms and leaned against the kitchen counter. 

“Hi.” 

“Hey, you.”

Chanyeol leaned down to kiss Baekhyun deeply. This was always their favourite part of the day. After spending time apart, they were finally able to enjoy each other once more. 

They kissed effortlessly, exploring each other’s mouths, not finding anything they hadn’t before but content that they meshed well together. They both knew how to make the other feel loved. 

After a few moments, they pulled away from one other, too breathless to continue. Baekhyun thought Chanyeol looked beautiful with swollen red lips and blown out pupils. He wished he could see the image of a loved up lovestruck Chanyeol whenever he closed his eyes. Luckily for him, he was standing right in front of him. 

“How was your day?” Chanyeol asked. 

He ran his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair. Baekhyun had recently dyed his hair blonde and wasn’t entirely sure if it was a good idea. He was just feeling run down from working long shifts at the hospital and nurses could hardly wear glittery eyeliner or red blush (wish he would usually opt for when he needed a confidence boost) so he went for a drastic hairstyle instead. 

“It was good,” and it was, honestly, “got Heejin to your mom’s on time which is always a struggle. Work was quiet. And now you’re here.”

Chanyeol’s grin practically reached his ears and he placed a sloppy kiss directly on Baekhyun’s half-open mouth, clashing with his teeth. 

“Someone’s eager,” Baekhyun teased. 

“Course I am. I have missed you!”

“Well,” Baekhyun took hold of Chanyeol’s hand, running his fingers across the faded tattoo on the inside of his index finger that read ‘Heejin’. It was fading from sweat and over-exposure to musical instruments.

“You can prove how much you’ve missed me by starting Heejin’s sausage surprise shitty meal-,” he paused in thought, “do you think there’s something wrong with her?”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes at his boyfriend and smacked him on the bum with a tea towel he had grabbed from the hook. 

“I think she’s a child, Baek,” he admitted, “now go and get dressed. You look like a scruff in _my_ tracksuit, I think you’ll find.”

Baekhyun flipped him the bird before doing as he was told. He did look like a tramp to be fair. 

The upstairs of their small home was quiet except for a soft singing coming from Heejin’s room at the end of the landing. 

Maybe it was the after effect of living with two dads who had music running through their veins - Baekhyun in the form of a delicate voice that he had developed as a child, Chanyeol in his propensity for picking up musical instruments like it was as easy as breathing. Whatever the reason, Heejin had been singing since she could speak and her childish tones were the source of Baekhyun’s pride. 

Without making a sound, he crept up to her doorway, peeping in to watch his daughter in admiration. 

She was sitting on the floor, already dressed in her pretty yellow party dress bought for her by Chanyeol the previous week. Her hair was plaited but, as expected from a child who was just shy of 3, they hadn’t lasted well.

Heejin was leafing through a picture book - something about a little girl with two dads that Chanyeol’s sister had bought for her on a trip to Europe - not able to read, not knowing what she was looking at but happy all the same. She was humming a trot song, probably picked up from her grandmother, warbling incoherent nonsense. Baekhyun couldn’t help but smile. 

“Heejin-ah,” he called out softly. 

The little girl turned around with a huge grin and outstretched arms forgetting about the book.

“Daddy!” She cried, “I am reading!”

Baekhyun knelt on the ground and wrapped long arms around his daughter’s tiny frame. 

“What are you reading, my sweet?”

“A book!” Of course, she had no idea, “it’s about me and you and daddy!”

Baekhyun was stunned. Was his daughter actually a child genius and he hadn’t noticed this whole time?

“Oh really? Why do you think so?”

He sat cross-legged next to Heejin so they could peer at the book together. 

Heejin jabbed her clumsy hand at the picture on the cover: a blonde-haired man and a dark-haired man stood either side of a small girl. He supposed he could see the resemblance. In a way.

“Yes, baby! That’s right,” he praises, “that girl has two daddies like Heejin.”

Heejin thought for a second before replying with something that made Baekhyun want to burst into tears. 

“She’s a very lucky little girl then, isn’t she daddy?”

Baekhyun didn’t know how to respond. He was amazed that his daughter had even the slightest idea of how special she was to her fathers and how much she was treasured and adored. To hear her say it out loud knocked the wind out of him.

“Yes, she is,” a deep voice said from behind them. 

Chanyeol was half undressed in just his slacks and a vest as he headed over to his small family. 

“That’s good,” Heejin said, going back to fiddle with the pages of the book. She probably didn't understand what she was saying fully but the words she had learned from her fathers were kind and proof of how much she was loved. 

“What are you two up to without me, anyway?” 

Chanyeol sat on the floor as well, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and nuzzling his nose behind the smaller man’s ear. 

“We were planning a secret adventure without daddy, weren't we baby?” Baekhyun teased. 

Chanyeol gasped in mock horror. 

Heejin was completely confused but couldn’t resist asking the important question, “will there be cake on the _avencha_?” 

Her dads chuckled. Of course, the mind of a 2-year-old never strayed far away from a need for food and sugar. 

“Later when your uncles get here,” Chanyeol insisted, “it’s Kyungsoo’s birthday remember?”

“Kungsoo!” Heejiin screamed, excitedly, “does that mean Uncle Jogi is coming as well! We can dance!!”

Baekhyun chose to ignore the incorrect pronunciation of his friends’ names because Heejin’s mistakes were always quite adorable. 

“You can dance with Jongin, yes,” Chanyeol told her much to her delight.

“But in the garden! I’m not losing another vase!” 

Chanyeol groaned, teasing his boyfriend's dramatics, and started to tickle Baekhyun aggressively until he screeched with joy! 

"Daddy, daddy!! Let me tickle!!" 

Before they knew it, they were all trapped in a pile on, screaming and laughing and shouting all at once. 

That was until the doorbell rang and they realised they weren't dressed.

That realisation made them laugh even more!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol and Baekhyun's wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I planned to write this weeks ago but it's here now. 
> 
> This is the cello piece from the wedding scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qrKjywjo7Q

Ever since meeting Baekhyun, there was not a single day that Chanyeol didn’t spend with the other man in some way. If they couldn’t be in the same room, they would be on the other end of the phone. Chanyeol couldn’t imagine them living any other way. They were two sides of the same coin, cut from the same cloth. They were their own people, sure but without each other, the world held far less colour. 

It was ironic, then, that the first night they spent utterly separated from one another was the day of their wedding. 

Chanyeol’s mother  _ insisted  _ that it was a matter of tradition that they not see each other before the big day. Of course, she couldn’t really justify why this was but when Chanyeol had unhelpfully pointed this out, she hadn’t spoken to him for 2 days. So, to quell his mother’s nerves if not his own, both he and Baekhyun packed a bag and stayed with friends for the longest night of their lives so far. 

Perhaps the most difficult part of the whole ordeal was deciding where the now 5-year-old Heejin would sleep. After becoming accustomed to having their little treasure in the room next door, neither dad knew how to deal with her absence. The young girl herself was unperturbed, however, and was happy enough having a sleepover with one of her uncles. 

In the end, they took the mature route and flipped a coin so Heejin ended up sleeping with Baekhyun at Kyungsoo and Jongin’s house. Maybe that was for the best, Chanyeol pondered as he swirled the expensive wine around in the glass handed to him by Junmyeon. Jongin and Kyungsoo had a small girl, too - Chaerin - and, though she was only 1 herself, the company of another child would be nice for Heejin. 

That didn’t make Chanyeol miss his family any less. 

“What’s with the long face?” Sehun asked as he plopped down on the white leather sofa opposite Chanyeol and adjacent to a roaring fireplace. 

Besides, Sehun and Junmyeon’s grand home fit for kings (or a pair of successful and childless homosexuals) was far from child-proofed. White sofas, exposed fireplaces, glass coffee tables, ornate rugs; it was a recipe for disaster. Chanyeol could almost visualise the sticky jam handprints all over the marble flooring and the image made him chuckle. 

“Erm...EARTH TO CHANYEOL!” Sehun called across after 30 seconds of trying to earn the other man’s attention, a sly grin on his face as his (more polite and less judgemental) partner smiled at Chanyeol with a glint of both humour and pride in his eyes. 

“Oh, leave him alone, Sehun-ah,” Junmyeon scolded as harshly as he knew how (so, very gently), “Chanyeol probably has a lot on his mind. After all, you’re looking at a soon-to-be-married man right now.”

Chanyeol couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face almost instantly. Junmyeon was right, of course, but hearing someone say it out loud made his heart swell with pride.

“You’re so whipped,” Sehun teased.

He was one to talk of course if the way he nuzzled into his boyfriend’s neck while getting a head rub was anything to go by. 

He wasn’t wrong, either. Chanyeol had found his one true love. He was a fantastic father, a loving boyfriend, and a really good cook to top it all off. 

“Are you excited, Yeol-ah?” Junmyeon queried. 

“I am. I’m so excited I could explode, Jun,” he felt so overcome with anticipation that he was practically trembling, “I love him so much.”

His friend offered a wistful smile, as though he could feel Chanyeol’s boundless love for himself. And maybe he could, in a way. 

  
  
  
  


It was 6 am on the morning of the wedding when Baekhyun rose from another hour of fitful sleep. 

He could tell from the lack of light streaming from between the blinds that it was still dark outside but he had given up on the idea of getting back to sleep. 

Since the day before when he left Chanyeol at their friends’ house, his mind was awash with a million thoughts a second about table settings, flower arrangements, and bridesmaids dresses. He knew that everything had been organised for months and he also remembered Yoora’s orders to stop worrying because she was the appointed wedding planner and not him. 

Even his older brother, who was far from being sensitive to the inner workings of his little sibling’s mind, had sent him a text message ordering him to “Calm the hell down and enjoy his last night of freedom.” 

Baekhyun was hardly free as it was, he thought as he sat up in the double bed next to his sleeping daughter. True to the innocence of a child, she had no idea what was happening. She was happy enough to have a sleepover, sleep with the excitement of going to a “big party” the next day, and eating her uncle Kyungsoo’s famous kimchi bolognese for dinner. 

Not that it mattered. Baekhyun didn’t want freedom. He wanted the security of knowing that he, his precious daughter, and the love of his life could live together in comfort and with an eternity of love. That’s what freedom meant to him; being able to stand in front of his loved ones and declare his love for the man who was his entire world. 

As he immersed himself in thought, he didn’t notice the small girl stirring beside him. 

“Appa are you awake?” She croaked, her voice unused and dry.

“Yes, my love. But you can sleep if you want to. It’s still early.”

Heejin sat up in bed and aggressively rubbed her eyes with her small fists. She had obviously been warm in the night as her dark hair had gone frizzy and was clinging to her forehead. 

“I’m awake now,” she stated matter of factly, “I am not tired anymore.” Her insistence was punctuated by a massive yawn which made her dad chuckle. 

“Okay, baby. I believe you.” 

She was growing to be such a beautiful young girl. Her jet black hair was starting to curl a little just like her father’s tended to when he allowed it to air dry, a feature of Chanyeol that Baekhyun adored. Baekhyun longed to plait her hair and decorate it with dainty flowers but his daughter was a chaotic ragamuffin (again, just like Chanyeol) so they surely wouldn’t hold for more than a few moments. 

Baekhyun shivered thinking of the state her pastel pink bridesmaids dress would be in before it was even time for the dinner speeches. 

“Daddy,” Heejin asked as she shuffled over onto her dad’s lap, allowing him to run his fingers through her silky hair, “are you and daddy having a wedding like on the tv?”

Baekhyun pondered with a pout, cocking his head to the side in thought, “Well, it will be a little bit like a wedding you see on TV. There will be music and bridesmaids and dancing. Why?”

She hummed, tugging on the hem of her pyjama shirt. When deep in thought, Heejin had the exact manner of pouting as Baekhyun which made her dad oddly proud. 

“It’s only because…” she hesitated until Baekhyun nudged her shoulder encouragingly, “I have never seen two daddies get married on TV.”

Ah. That old chestnut. 

Honestly, Baekhyun hadn’t really considered that. All he had thought about since he and Chanyeol made the decision to make their relationship legally binding was that they were able to. They didn’t consider the wider implications of that. 

“Ah,” he started, inching closer to an explanation he couldn’t quite find, “just because you don’t see two boys getting married on the tv, doesn’t mean they don’t. You know lots of boys who will marry boys like uncle Sehunnie, Junmyeon, Soo, Jongin...loads! Right? It happens.” 

His daughter’s silence weighed down heavily on Baekhyun’s chest. 

“I know,” Heejin replied with a shrug, “I just wasn’t sure. And the girls at school thought I was lying!” 

She turned to her father with angry eyes, but only with as much anger as a small person could muster which wasn’t so much. He didn’t want to dismiss her fury but Baekhyun still had to suppress a chuckle. 

“What did me and appa say to you before you started school, Heejin-ah?”

She rolled her eyes which, at any other time, would earn her a scolding but special occasions call for special exceptions. 

“That the other children are just curious.”

“Exactly! It’s nothing to worry about, okay?”

She nodded resolutely and insisted, “I  _ know,  _ dad. I just really want to know who gets to wear the princess dress instead of  _ you! _ I asked Jogin and he just  _ laughed  _ at me!”

Of course. Heejin had recently developed an obsession with princesses and dragons so of course, she would want to know who would be wearing the gown. 

“Isn’t that obvious?” He faked an aloof aura as if it were a mighty silly question. Heejin shook her tiny head aggressively. 

“You! You silly moose!” He grabbed onto her and tickled her ribs until she screeched, “you are wearing the princess dress! And you will have some flowers and pretty hair, don’t you remember?”

Her brown eyes sparkled with excitement as she imagined herself in front of her dads, uncles, aunties, grandparents and cousins dressed up to the nines like a glamorous princess. 

One thing was for sure; this was Heejin’s special day, too. 

  
  
  


The reception hall was bustling with people and the room was filled to the rafters with excited chatters and buzzing voices. The anticipation for what was about to come was almost palpable. 

So palpable, in fact, that Chanyeol could feel it rattling his nerves. The only thing keeping him calm was the soft tones of the string quartet playing in the far corner of the room. If he focused on the gently soaring and falling notes, he could almost settle his turbulent heart. 

Almost. 

“You okay, Yeol?”

Chanyeol glanced to his hide to see Jongdae, smiling with a hint of concern for his anxious friend. Jongdae was the only one out of their friendship group who had experienced married life for himself. He understood the mass of emotions that came with your big day and was empathetic to Chanyeol’s nerves. 

Chanyeol nodded with a forced smile. He was fine. He was more than fine. Happier than he had ever been in his life, bar the birth of his daughter. But that onslaught of immeasurable emotion was overwhelming. 

Another glance over his opposite shoulder led him to his friends Minseok and Yixing who were looking at him with stars in their eyes, offering him a simultaneous thumbs up. As the singletons of the group, they were probably just looking forward to a proper knees-up and the thought made laughter bubble in Chanyeol’s chest. 

Suddenly, the music shifted to a cello piece painstakingly chosen by the couple prior to the day and Chanyeol’s heart stopped. His stomach leapt into his chest and his breath became lodged. 

It was happening. It was really happening. 

The room fell silent apart from the rise and fall of the cello’s deep tones. Chanyeol took one deep breath and, after a reassuring pat on the shoulder from his best man, Sehun, he turned around. 

The sight before him made him gasp. 

At first, he saw Heejin. She was dressed in her satin bridesmaid’s dress which sparkled on top and ballooned out from the waist into a billowing skirt. She looked like an angel. Her hair had been curled into small ringlets and intertwined with Baekyun’s favourite miniature pink roses. 

She walked ahead, scattering rose petals on the ground at her feet, smiling wide with every coo and compliment from her family members. 

Chanyeol was practically glowing. 

Then the air was knocked out of him entirely at the sight behind his daughter’s small form. 

There he stood, Baekhyun in all his glory. 

He had opted for a white suit. The implications of purity null but he most certainly looked heavenly to Chanyeol. He seemed to glide down the aisle as opposed to walking, utterly ethereal. 

His dark hair had been styled back from his forehead leaving his dazzling eyes perfectly exposed. 

Chanyeol loved Baekhyun’s eyes. The other man was often a little self-conscious of them given that they were jet black orbs and not as stark as Chanyeol’s own. But they held so much life in them. And the way the other man had decorated his lids with white powder and a faint dashing of glitter made them shine even more. 

As Baekhyun moved closer, it appeared that tears were beginning to well in his eyes and his upper lip was trembling slightly. Chanyeol was about to panic and rush towards him until he felt a hot tear slide down his own cheek. 

Subtly, he attempted to brush it away without anyone noticing but Baekhyun caught him. The other man began to giggle (to everyone else’s confusion) and, upon reaching the front of the hall, he poked Chanyeol on the chest playfully. 

“You’re making me cry, you big oaf,” he whispered. 

Both men chuckled through their sniffles. 

They stared into each other’s eyes and it felt as though the whole world had stood still. The room fell away to nothing and all that was left was the two of them. 

And Heejin. They could never forget Heejin. 

  
  


The wedding celebrations had been going on for hours and hours without any sign of stopping. 

Baekhyun’s feet were battered to oblivion from all of the standing and Chanyeol’s voice was hoarse from all of the talking and shouting and emotional moments throughout the day. 

By around 10 pm, Heejin had fallen asleep at the buffet table so Kyungsoo had kindly offered to put her to bed with Chaerin. She wasn’t to be sharing a room with her father’s anyway. They had other plans. 

“I love you, Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol slurred into his husband's neck. He wasn’t drunk; only tipsy. But he was exhausted. 

“I love you, too.”

They were slow dancing to an upbeat 90’s tune, unbothered by their family frantically dancing around them. Had Chanyeol seen his mother dancing with Junmyeon in the way she was, he may have fainted from the shame. 

They danced and kissed for the first time as a married couple and, though they had held each other and kissed each other like this before, it was far sweeter than before. 

Neither of them thought that was possible but they revelled in the way their tired lips locked together just as effortlessly as ever. 

“Are we going to fuck after this?” Baekhyun breathed on to his husband’s -  _ husband’s-  _ lips as they separated for air. 

Chanyeol sighed, “I can do a quickie in the shower if you want but I’m fucking knackered!” 

His stark honesty made Baekhyun howl with laughter. He pecked his husband on the cheek in gratitude. 

“Thank fuck,” he sighed in relief, “I’m so tired I really can’t be arsed.” 

The other man relaxed in a similar fashion. At least they were on the same page. 

“ _ This  _ is why I love you,” Chanyeol declared. 

“What? Because I  _ won’t  _ fuck you after ten vol-au-vents and a glass of red?” 

Chanyeol flicked him on the ear, “no, you muppet.”

Once again, Baekhyun burrowed into Chanyeol’s neck while the other man tightened his grip around his husband’s waist. 

“I love you,” Chanyeol continued, “because you understand me more than anyone else in the world ever will.”

And had Chanyeol seen the way his husband began to well up from the hundredth swelling of his heart that day, he would have cried again, too. 

They were just in sync like that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> None of my works are beta'd or anything so I appreciate (nice) tips if you have any! I don't usually write things like this but I enjoyed writing it.  
> I hope you enjoyed reading!  
> Stay safe, everyone and take care! MWAH xxx

**Author's Note:**

> Take care, everyone. You can follow me on Twitter @YeolOutof10. I shit post there daily.


End file.
